


down to my last

by versipelle



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Near Death Experience, The Alpha Pack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-16
Updated: 2013-04-16
Packaged: 2017-12-08 15:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/763148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/versipelle/pseuds/versipelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I have a plan for that.”</p>
<p>He was genuinely surprised. Derek seemed to have got them into this mess and now, suddenly, he’d thought of a way out of being chased down by angry Alpha werewolves? He asked him for the plan, but soon wished that he could manage to keep his mouth shut every now and again.</p>
<p>“Yes. I tell you to run and hope they follow your inane chattering so I can make my escape in silence,” Derek growled back, and Stiles pulled a face. He couldn’t see well enough to tell if Derek was smirking, but he wouldn’t put it past him for that to be his genuine plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	down to my last

“This wall is really fucking cold,” Stiles complained, for the third time in twenty minutes.

“It’s dark and it’s freezing, did you expect central heating?”

“It kinda sounded like you sang that,” he replied with a grin, and Derek huffed, his annoyance a vapour in front of them both. They were sat, huddled on the floor behind a wall that came up to hip height, Derek constantly twisting his head from side to side like a nervous animal. Which is what he was, technically.

“Just be quiet, okay, I don’t think they know where we are.”

“But we don’t know where they are, either,” Stiles countered truthfully. “I mean, if they’re over there,” he pointed in front of them across the cold concrete to the steel factory in the near distance, “then this wall won’t help us much.”

“I have a plan for that.”

He was genuinely surprised. Derek seemed to have got them into this mess and now, suddenly, he’d thought of a way out of being chased down by angry Alpha werewolves? He asked him for the plan, but soon wished that he could manage to keep his mouth shut every now and again.

“Yes. I tell you to run and hope they follow your inane chattering so I can make my escape in silence,” Derek growled back, and Stiles pulled a face. He couldn’t see well enough to tell if Derek was smirking, but he wouldn’t put it past him for that to be his genuine plan.

“That wasn’t a real plan,” Derek said, reading his mind. He had an odd way of doing that, and Stiles opened his mouth to question how exactly he managed it when Derek spoke again.

“Being an Alpha makes me psychic,” he said smoothly. A faint flash of red appeared next to him.

Stiles saw how it was. It was a big joke at his expense.

“What am I thinking right now then?” He could play along this once, he supposed.

The outline of Derek’s arm came up against the backdrop of roofs and chimneys resting on the clouds and his fingers rested on his chin, and he thought he could hear the sound of skin on stubble. Derek was obviously exaggerating the thinking process for comic effect. Asshole. Typical of Derek to always make him feel small.

“You’re thinking, ‘that’s bullshit’. Don’t try to deny it now,” Derek replied, a smile to his tone.

“Whoa, truly a master of the art,” Stiles muttered.

Derek looked over at him then, and he knew he was being grumpy and Derek was being excessively jokey, and the whole role reversal struck him as even more frustrating. It made him uncomfortable, because them being stuck here together wasn’t uncomfortable when it should have been. They were acquaintances who tolerated each other for Scott’s sake, and they should never have ended up in this crazy situation to start with.

“What’s wrong with you?” Derek asked him seriously, breaking Stiles’ thoughts. “You’re... not being you.”

“You wanted actual me to be chased down and eaten by the Alphas, don’t complain.”

“That was a joke! It doesn’t mean I want you to stop being you altogether.”

“Just mostly then?” Stiles retorted, and Derek raised his hands across his face. He sighed, and Stiles watched his breath against the night sky, thinking about all the thoughts Derek would probably love to expel from his mind with each exhalation. Right now, they probably all concerned him.

Ω

It wasn’t his fault that Scott had gone away with Allison for the weekend, and that everyone else was not exactly reliable at the moment, and that Derek needed help and he was the only one around to try and do so. He didn’t even know why Derek had bothered involving him when he was useless at everything supernatural, especially against a pack of Alphas trying their best to make Derek one of their own, first with bribery and flattery, and then when that didn’t work, by force. Stiles had managed, through general inventiveness and sheer luck, to keep him hidden for several days until they got back to the house to find claw marks in the front door. He’d been discovered, and they’d had to run right then, a howl piercing the night as they sprinted away.

“I’m sorry I involved you,” Derek said, and Stiles couldn’t help but wonder how the hell he’d read his thoughts like they were beamed across the sky in lights yet again. “If you think I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for me these past few days, then you’re very wrong. Considering everything that’s ever happened around here since Scott was turned, it’s amazing that you’re not locked away somewhere by now. I don’t really deserve you being so helpful, so maybe I should treat you with a little bit more respect.”

It was such a surprising, honest statement that he didn’t know what to say, and then Derek placed a hand on his shoulder for a minute, just holding it there, and his mood seemed to flip a hundred and eighty degrees, and he couldn’t even recall why he’d been so annoyed in the first place. Every time he thought Derek was nothing more than a selfish animal, he proved himself to be surprisingly human. 

“I’m sorry too,” he replied at last. “I give you so much shit.”

“I deserve it. I’m a real asshole sometimes,” Derek said, playfully scolding him for the apology, and white teeth glistened against the brickwork. Stiles couldn’t help but laugh, and the infuriation he felt didn’t darken his mood.

“I know, I’m sitting here freezing my ass off and you aren’t offering me any werewolf warmth to stop my teeth from chattering our position away to the Alphas,” he taunted. “Such an asshole.”

Derek laughed, quietly so as not to attract attention which made it low and throaty, and it was a glorious noise. He needed to laugh more, needed to be made to laugh more. Maybe that was part of the reason Derek always came to him, he thought, for a helpful reminder of what it was to be human. 

“They’re close,” Derek suddenly muttered, breaking him of his reverie. “I can smell them.”

“Won’t they be able to smell you too?” Stiles hissed back, but he was cut off by a harsh shout from somewhere on the other side of the wall. He felt glad for it, as damp and unforgiving on his back as it was.

“Derek Hale and Mr. Stilinski. We meet again.”

“He called me mister,” Stiles whispered proudly to Derek who gave a withering look as a response. He mouthed a retort. “Jealous.”

“You don’t need to get into theatrics,” Derek said in a low voice. “They know where we are, you may as well try and talk them to death.” Stiles glared at him.

“Oh great Alpha!” he shouted out into the darkness, “you haven’t quite managed to meet us again just yet, since you can’t see us and we can’t see you. I’m not even sure what you can possibly want anyway, since Derek is a bit rubbish as far as you lot go.” He knew the punch was coming but it didn’t stop it from stinging. “Ow! Don’t break me, whose side are you on?”

“I was wondering the same thing about you.”

“Just talking you down so they leave us alone.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“Actually I’m a very good liar.”

Derek put a stop to their back and forth by pushing him further back into the wall, causing Stiles to wince in pain as a sharp edge of brick grazed against his back. 

“They’re getting closer.”

“Derek is right, we can hear everything you’re saying, Mr Stilinski. You’re a fascinating individual, do you know that?. A friend and an equal to many a werewolf and hunter alike, and yet just a boy. It must take considerable skill.” The pause that followed seemed to be part of the speech, and Stiles tensed up, squirming away from the wall slightly. This was swiftly heading in a direction he did not like. “We think you’d be a great addition to our little group. It’s why we came looking for you. We just needed Derek to help us find you.”

The moment of horrible realisation hit pretty quickly. This had never been about Derek, they had known he would refuse the bribes and the compliments, but it didn’t matter, because none of them had an inch of truth in them as far as the Alphas were concerned. No, they were interested in him, because he walked the line between them all and they had known Derek would eventually come to him for help. Wait, how had they known...

“You sent Scott and Allison away, somehow. Boyd and Erica, too.” He was suddenly desperately worried for them all. Isaac, Lydia. Where was everyone?

“You’re smart, but a little too smart. Only Scott needed to disappear, and you can relax, he’s fine. Hurting him would never get you to join us.”

“Why only Scott? Derek still has pack.”

“I thought that would have been obvious,” the alpha replied, and Stiles didn’t understand what that meant. “Derek trusts you the most, and maybe if Scott wasn’t one of us I wouldn’t have even needed to take him out of the equation for a little while.”

Stiles couldn’t help but look over to Derek after that, but he purposefully wasn’t looking at him, and his face was unreadable in the gloom. Maybe he’d underestimated his importance to Derek.

“I’m never becoming one of you,” Stiles replied hotly. He thought of Scott and Allison and the others, and knew he would rather die than lose everything Derek had mentioned before. They needed someone human to ground them, even if they didn’t realise it. He could never take that away from them.

“I don’t recall giving you a choice, Mr Stilinski. But you can have one, if you’d like. Either you join us, or we’ll kill Derek right now, then we’ll find all your other friends, and you can keep choosing. One. By. One. You’ve got a minute to decide.”

His eyes widened, and he knew Derek was staring at him now, but he couldn’t do anything. Panic had set in, because there was no way he could watch Derek die after everything that had happened that night. He knew Derek couldn’t look at him until then because he didn’t want Stiles to know how much truth was in the alpha’s words, especially since Stiles knew how much it pained him to trust someone at all. That only left one other choice.

“Stiles,” Derek warned as he began to stand up, “don’t do anything stupid.” He pressed a hand against his shoulder and kept him below the level of the wall. He fought against it but Derek’s grip was too strong.

“I have to, Derek.”

He forced the words out of his mouth, as if they wouldn’t be true until they were said aloud. The moon slid from behind the clouds at that moment, and for a few seconds he saw Derek’s face contort in pain, his eyes closed as if to stop reality from continuing until they were opened. 

“I can’t let them kill you, Derek. I can’t let them kill anyone.”

“If they turn you then it’s just as much of a death sentence to us all. You know everything he said was true. We need you.”

Even after everything Derek had surprised him with that night, he still couldn’t believe that.

“I do need you, Stiles,” Derek said, back inside his head, his voice cracked with emotion like he had never heard before. “I’d do anything to protect a friend, and that’s what you are, even if I don’t show it.”

Stiles looked up at the pain in his words as a voice echoed across the night that thirty seconds remained. “You really mean that, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. Which is why you will let me fight them to keep you alive. You’re more important to everyone than I am.” He stopped him from arguing back by placing a finger over his mouth. “Don’t argue, there’s no time. Just go, give everyone a chance.”

It was right there, in that moment, that one second of confusion and terror and blind panic, that he realised that Derek treated him like crap because he didn’t want to care about him, but that it had gotten much too late to stop. Offering himself up as a sacrifice to save him was the only way to apologise that he knew.

“Stiles! Stop staring into space and run, I can handle this. I’ll fight right down to my last breath to save you if need be.”

“Derek, don’t you dare let anything happen to you. I-”

“I’d miss you too, that’s why I have to do this,” Derek interrupted, “now go!”

Before Stiles could say anything more, Derek had leapt up and over the wall and Stiles ran, literally throwing himself up pavements and down roads and never daring to look back for a second. He was scared of falling, because he could barely see from the tears cloaking his vision, and he didn’t even understand fully why he was crying like this. He just needed it all to stop, and he couldn’t handle the thought of losing someone else.

Ω

Three hours had gone by, and no one had come for Stiles. He’d found himself in the preserve almost by habit, having ran with Scott and the others many times through here, and ended up inside Derek’s shack, sitting down against the wall out of sheer exhaustion. His body felt torn in two by his aching lungs and his face was damp with sobs for someone he’d never even considered a friend until tonight. Now it was too late to make something of it; Derek was dead, and he felt so alone.

He should have rung Scott then, or the Argents, or Boyd or Isaac but he couldn’t bring himself to explain it all to anyone even though not getting help was keeping him in danger. He knew part of it was a self-inflicted punishment, wanting to atone for Derek’s death, and also a want to keep further people out of danger. They knew he’d be alone now, and he hoped they would just come for him first. 

He thought back to the time he’d left Derek to drown in the pool to grab his phone, to all the horrible snarky things he’d said to him, even earlier on that night, and how Derek had still been there to protect him when he needed it. They all just tolerated him and never thought that maybe he was just lonely and unsure how to act with these messed up teenagers who managed more bite in their words than he did with the sharpest of his teeth. He had tried, in his own way, and they’d all shunned him.

He couldn’t feel any worse, and he was almost glad when he heard the footsteps outside. You didn’t need werewolf hearing for that, he thought and almost laughed out of sheer hopelessness.

“Mr. Stilinski, did you think you’d evade us quite that easily? Tut tut.”

Hearing the Alpha’s voice somehow made it all worse, so final.

“I don’t care any more. Do whatever you want. Just leave my friends alone.”

The man outside barked out laughter, then stepped inside the shack. Stiles could hear him pacing around downstairs. “Where are you, Mr. Stilinski? Don’t keep me guessing, I’m sure you want this to be as painless as possible.”

“You’ve made it as painful as it can get,” he said, devoid of emotion. Oh, the irony.

The stairs creaked and he knew it wouldn’t be long.

“I take it you and Derek were friends?” the man cocked his head with interest as he entered the room. “You’ll soon have better ones. Although I will say this - he put up a hell of a fight against them all. You should be proud of him. He was still fighting when I left, but it was a losing battle.”

Something in Stiles broke then. Derek had known before he even jumped the wall that there were way too many for him to survive, and here he was just sitting here willing it to be over with, after everything Derek had done. He felt like he’d end up in Hell a thousand times over for the horror he’d put that guy through that night.

“You know, his uncle offered me the bite once. I refused. He didn’t kill anyone to try and change my mind.”

“More luck for me,” the alpha replied, “because then you would be someone else’s beta and I wouldn’t be nearly as interested.” He stepped forward into the moonlight streaming through the open window, and Stiles found a new level of fear.

He may have been handsome once, but he was covered in scars that ran across his throat and down his face, pink and inflamed. “I told you he was a fighter,” he said in explanation. “But they’ll heal. They always do.”

In a movement that was all too quick, the alpha’s face was abruptly very close to his own, and he tried to back away out of instinct. He stumbled and his hand hit something on the floor. He shuffled back further, and the alpha laughed. “Once you’re a wolf, you won’t know fear like that any more.”

“I’m not scared,” Stiles said, pulling his hand from behind him and thrusting the broken off spear of wood contained within it into the alpha’s neck. “I just needed to get a better grip.”

The alpha lurched back, blood flowing down his neck and tracing rivers down his shirt. “You’re feisty, I like it. But Deucalion always heals, my boy, and you’ve just made it so I won’t be gentle,” he said, his words mangled with rasps and gurgles. “Go ahead. Do it again, I dare you.”

Stiles reached behind him and then lunged forward before the alpha could properly defend himself, stabbing him in the chest with the second broken section, rotten splinters embedding in his hand as he did so, but the pain was barely noticeable. Here was his chance to atone for the death he’d caused, and he was taking it with every breath left in him, just as Derek had.

There was no time to find some other weapon, so he beat his fists against Deucalion’s chest in rage and knocked him to the floor with a well-aimed hit even as he felt a claw scratch its way into his skin and run up his arm. The alpha was laughing maniacally, spitting up blood and screaming at Stiles.

“I will heal!”

“No, you won’t,” a voice said from the doorway and an axe swung down from nowhere and the next second Deucalion’s head rolled away, blood spurting up and covering Stiles’ shirt and neck while he stood there, staring at the lifeless body, shock holding him in place even as his legs screamed to run.

“Oh god,” he blurted out, and burst into furious tears as he looked up at his saviour.

“You did so well,” Derek said proudly, and Stiles ran forward and threw his arms around him, his hands splayed out across his back and touching, checking as if he might just be a cruel trick, a ghost come to say a final goodbye.

“There was so many of them,” he moaned.

“Actually, it was pretty equal,” he said, smiling even though Stiles had rubbed alpha blood across his face and his chest. “Turns out Allison got suspicious about their good fortune and her and Scott decided to come back, and he got hold of Boyd and Isaac and scented me out, saw I was in trouble and jumped in just after that guy left. I would have been a goner without them.”

“I... just...” Stiles couldn’t even make words, and he knew Derek was taking in the gravity of what happened by not joking about his speechlessness.

“They stayed behind to clear everything up. Don’t want your dad getting wind of this, do we?” he said, and Stiles just nodded in agreement. Derek gently placed an arm around his shoulders and led him from the room, sitting him down in an old, battered chair in the next room.

“It’s okay to freak out about this,” he said. “You just fought for your life, and that isn’t easy.”

“We were such jerks,” he stammered out, trying not to cry again. “I was so horrible to you and all this time you were keeping me safe, keeping us all safe. I’m so sorry, Derek, so so sorry.” He couldn’t find any more words to say, just sat and wept into Derek’s arms.

Derek just sat and held him, as if he were suddenly aware of what a breakable thing he was. He felt awkward with Stiles in his arms, sobbing quietly, patting his shoulder at first and then running his fingers through his hair like his mum used to do with him when he was sad as a child. It was obviously calming because soon Stiles spoke up in a whisper.

“My mum used to do this to me to make me feel better.”

“I think everyone’s did,” he replied, feeling weird. It was like he wanted to do more than protect Stiles now he’d seen his true vulnerability, but he wasn’t sure what more than that could be. He just held him a little longer, then softly stood him up and walked him towards the door.

“You need to clean up, a hot shower will soothe you.”

“I don’t have anything to change into,” Stiles responded.

“You can’t go home like that,” Derek said, and Stiles looked down and frowned. “I don’t think your dad would believe you had a nosebleed or whatever terrible lie you’d make up,” he smiled. After a moment, Stiles smiled back and his heart rose. His body might be fragile, but his mind was strong. “I’ll find you some of my clothes from when I was a bit younger, I still have some pieces back at my place. I’ll drive us there.”

“Thanks,” Stiles said, but Derek cut him off.

“Stop thanking me, I’m only helping out because you stink right now,” and Stiles laughed. Derek thought it sounded beautiful, and before he could stop himself words tumbled from his mouth. “I can’t stand it any longer,” he said, “I need you Stilinski, as painful as that is to admit, so stop whatever you were about to say and kiss me already.”

Stiles thought back to the moments he’d remembered earlier, but now instead noticing different details: how he’d held Derek for two hours to stop him from dying before going for the phone only when it was their last hope; all the times he caught Derek laughing at his sarcasm when he thought he wasn’t looking and how he had smiled when Derek did the same back to him; how distraught he’d been when he thought Derek was gone; the fact that he’d gone to Derek’s old home for protection; the way Derek had broken when Stiles said he’d go with the Alphas, and he knew that they’d never been friends until now because there’d always been something else hiding away, and it had taken the threat of permanent separation to bring it to the surface. So he leaned forward with no trace of uncertainly and kissed him.

It was everything he expected it to be and more. There was dried blood and other more questionable things across their faces but they didn’t care, drinking each other in with every meeting of their lips, allowing each other their explorations, wanting nothing more than this. They pressed up against the wall, needing to be as close to each other as they possibly could, and they finally spoke.

“Thank god,” Derek said softly as Stiles ran kisses along his throat, “I thought I’d been imagining it all, I thought you were going to turn and run. When I thought... when I thought I was going to lose you I realised how much I needed you, and I prayed you did too.”

“I didn’t even realise,” Stiles mumbled back, his lips still pressed against Derek’s skin. “For someone so brilliantly smart, you’d think I would have worked it out a hell of a lot sooner.” Derek gave a small laugh. “It’s crazy, but like, in a good way. I didn’t even know I wanted it, but now I do, I don’t want anything else.”

“Me either,” Derek replied softly. “Me either.”


End file.
